Mr. & Mrs. Donald W. Flick, the parents of Michael (Mic) J. Flick, have opened a memorial account at the Cape Cod Cooperative Bank that will be used to support a variety of child-focused charities and initiatives on the Cape and Islands.

Mic was killed in Sandwich on Aug. 4, 2010, while riding his motorcycle. Prior to his death, he enjoyed volunteering at the Boys & Girls Club, where he spent most of his youth participating in many of their programs and where he earned the Youth of the Year Award. His passion was to make a better place for children.

Donations may be sent to the Cape Cod Cooperative Bank, Attn: Cortney Roberts, 1583 Main St., East Dennis, MA 02641. For more information, call Cortney Roberts at 508-385-9212.

Escape velocity

There’s news about a former Hyannis resident who read Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time while a student at Barnstable High School and went on to become a physics professor who’s dined with Hawkings.

Justin Vazquez-Poritz, who teaches at New York City College of Technology, has received a thee-year National Science Foundation grant to investigate string theory. “String theory remains the leading candidate for a ‘theory of everything,’’ Vazquez-Portiz explained in a press statement, “capable of describing everything from quarks to black holes.”

The scientist has been named a 2010-12 scholar at the Kavli Insitute for Theoretical Physics in California.

Vazquez-Portiz is the son of Dorothy Poritz and stepson of Paul Gauvin of Hyannis. During his BHS days, he was a cellist with the Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra for three years before attending Cornell University.

Local Flotilla pledges volunteer hours

The U.S. Coast Guard will be receiving support from a local area Coast Guard Auxiliary unit in 2011. Natalie Braunstein, the Flotilla Commander-elect for Sandwich Flotilla 11-8, has pledged over 12,000 hours of volunteer support by flotilla members toward Auxiliary operations and missions over the next year. According to Braunstein, “The vast majority of this work will be provided here at the local level in the areas of on-water maritime patrols, search and rescue operations, public education programs, free vessel safety checks, and other various missions on behalf of the U.S. Coast Guard.” She invited the general public to learn more about Oyster Harbors Flotilla 11-8 by visiting the Auxiliary website at www.cgaux.org.